Bailiffs were called nearly 26,000 times in a year by Bristol City Council to chase drivers overs unpaid parking fines, new figures show. The authority made 25,917 referrals to bailiffs in 2022/23 for unpaid parking charges.
That means they called in debt collectors an average of 71 times each day in the period. In total, council bosses made 26,141 bailiff referrals, which means unpaid parking accounted for the vast majority of calls (99 per cent).
Bailiffs were also called in relation to business rates on 131 occasions and in relation to council tax (93 times). However, the 93 council tax cases referred to bailiffs relate to Liability Orders that had been obtained pre-covid and which had been on hold.
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In 2019, city Hall bosses vowed to reduce using bailiffs to recoup council tax arrears amid claims the tactics were “unfair and immoral”. At the time, Bristol City Council’s cabinet agreed new “ethical” enforcement measures to stop extra costs being piled onto vulnerable residents already in debt.
The news comes as Martin Lewis’s charity slammed councils for their “grotesque” handling of people with council tax debt. The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute criticised council tax debt collection practices for being “so aggressive”, likening them to a “caricature of the worst loan sharks”.
The charity, set up by Money Saving Expert (MSE) founder Martin, particularly took issue with the use of bailiffs by councils when collecting council tax arrears. It pointed out that if an individual misses just one council tax payment, they could receive a notice within three weeks requiring them to pay their annual council tax bill upfront within seven days.
For the average UK household, this could mean a missed £140 payment results in a £1,668 bill just three weeks later. According to Martin’s charity, many councils resort to debt collectors and bailiffs to recover this money.
The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) reports that total council tax debt currently stands at £6 billion. Research by the Money Advice Trust shows that around 1.3 million households in England and Wales were visited by a debt collector last year, reports the Mirror.
The number of people referred to debt collection agencies varied significantly by council, according to the most recent data for the year to April 2023. The London Borough of Croydon topped the list, sending bailiffs to 36,122 customers with council tax arrears, followed by Barnet with 34,956 referrals, and Lambeth with 29,629.
In total, Croydon made a staggering 86,295 bailiff referrals throughout the year, the highest of any council. But when compared to the number of households in each area, people living in Waltham Forest were more likely to receive a knock from the bailiffs.
Outside of London, Liverpool made the most bailiff referrals for council tax arrears (27,435) while Manchester made the most bailiff referrals overall (43,209). Bristol City Council was approached for comment.